Trailer blowing fuse...

MaineSleddah · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:55 pm

I have a 16' V-nose enclosed trailer covered with marker lights as well as the regular tail lights. When I plug it into my KJ the lights work for about 5 minutes and the 10 amp fues for the right half of my KJ burns out... Took a while to figure out that the running lights are powered by two 10 amp fuses. One for the right half and one for the left half. Has anyone else had this issue? I figure I've got to reduce the trailer current, but LED tail lights are kinda expensive! Any other fixes out there???

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:58 pm

what kind of wiring harness for the trailer do you have? The first one I installed kept blowing the right side out, got a plug in one from etrailer and never had any other problems

MaineSleddah · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2008 6:02 pm

tommudd wrote:

what kind of wiring harness for the trailer do you have? The first one I installed kept blowing the right side out, got a plug in one from etrailer and never had any other problems

Factory tow package...

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2008 6:03 pm

Check for shorted wires in the wiring,mainly check the trailer wiring.

SilverLiberty · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2008 6:52 pm

I'm having the same problem, haven't figured out a fix yet..

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:18 pm

Like tjkj said start with the trailer first, but mine ended up being in the wiring behind the left tail light

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:54 pm

Being an 05 I wouldnt think this is your problem but its worth looking at. I had to replace the 7pin plug on our 94 ZJ for that reason. It was corroded something awful and blowing fuses.

Other than that, yea, probably something on the trailer.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:58 am

If the vehilcle lights work fine without the trailer lights than the harness connection is not the problem.

When you press on the brake pedal - the fuse blows?

When you select your turn signal - the fuse blows?

I suspect a poor ground or bad trailer wiring.

How old is the harness?

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:21 am

mine worked fine until I hooked up a trailer, mind now that I have three trailers that I pull, first time it blew thought it was on the old trailer I was using, replaced the wiring since it was old and getting bad anyways, but still blew it, tried one of the other trailers and same thing so while it only happened while having a trailer attached and it worked fine without one, it was still in the KJ wiring in behind the left taillight that was the problem

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:39 pm

Factory Tow harness? Not that it wouldn't happen... Just wondering so that I can keep an eye out for it.

Currently, the only instance I've had where the 10A running light fuse was blowing has been from me forgetting to unplug the harness wires before launching/retrieving the sailboat out of the water. The water was getting into a connection and causing a short when the system had it's 12v power running to it. Unplugging the harness before putting the trailer in the water (which I try to always do) solves the problem.

That was, until the trailer harness got caught under the leaf spring and promptly got chewed up and caused another short.

This winter, I'm re-running all of my trailer harness in some split loom so that I can keep it a little more protected in the future.

renegadekj · **Posted:** Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:29 pm

I had the same peoblem with mine when i first bought my 6x12' tandem axle cargo trailer. Do you have a bunch of lights on your trailer? I do and the 10amp will not handle them all. I put in a 15 or 20 amp(can't remember) and havent had a problem yet! Oh and don't be afraid of putting a bigger fuse in, it will not hurt anything! the wires will handle the amperage.

Josh

MaineSleddah · **Posted:** Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:36 am

The trailer to Jeep ground is great, lesst than .5 ohms. There are no wiring shorts either on the trailer or the jeep. The issue is a poor Jeep design I'm afraid...
I do not agree with just putting in a larger fuse, unless you carry a good supply of marshmellows, Hershey bars and graham crackers... Jeep does not run any larger wiring than they need to. It would take a 14 awg wire to support a 15 amp fuse and I know the wiring is not 14 awg. I will fix the issue by putting in a 15 amp wire thru a solid state relay, just before the trailer connection. A pain, but the right way to correct the issue.

Trailer blowing fuse...

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